> Detroit Free Press
> January 22, 2000
>
> Caller says group set MSU fire
>
> Pesticide researcher was New Year's Eve target
>
> BY LAURA POTTS
> FREE PRESS SPECIAL WRITER
>
> A radical environmentalist group that has claimed responsibility for the
> costliest act of eco-terrorism in the United States is taking blame for
> the New Year's Eve fire at Michigan State University's Agriculture Hall.
>
> Craig Rosbraugh, a spokesman for the Earth Liberation Front, said the
> target of the fire was the office of Catherine Ives, an associate
> professor with MSU's International Institute of Agriculture, who the
> group
> says is conducting research on genetic engineering of crops.
>
> Rosbraugh said he received an anonymous call and statement Thursday from
> a
> group member who said Ives' office was singled out because she is being
> funded by Monsanto Co. and the U.S. Agency for International Development
> to "develop genetically engineered crop pesticides and lobby developing
> countries to abandon what they're doing now."
>
> "Companies like Monsanto put profits ahead of lives. No one is exempt as
> long as they continue profiting from the destruction of the Earth," said
> Rosbraugh, who is based in Portland, Ore.
>
> Rosbraugh said he receives anonymous communications from ELF members who
> "operate in cells all independently of one another" throughout the United
> States and internationally. He relays their messages to the press, but
> did
> not notify investigators at MSU or within the ATF, which is aiding in the
> investigation.
>
> "They have a mutual trust and respect and an understanding that no one is
> going to tell who they are for their own safety," Rosbraugh said.
>
> MSU spokesman Terry Denbow said investigators were aware of the group's
> claims but would not comment further.
>
> "Progress is being made in our investigation," Denbow said. The
> professor,
> Ives, could not be reached for comment.
>
> Steve Berry, an FBI supervisory special agent, would not discuss the
> matter.
>
> "We won't confirm any of their alleged doings," Berry said.
>
> Officials at Monsanto could not be reached for comment.
>
> ELF, also known as the Animal Liberation Front, took credit for a 1992
> fire at MSU's Anthony Hall that destroyed 30 year's worth of research
> files.
>
> Rosbraugh said he believes the group's numbers are growing based on the
> increasing number of incidents members claim to have taken part in.
>
> ELF, which was founded in Britain in 1992, has claimed responsibility for
> setting fires in 1998 at a Vail, Col., ski resort that caused $12 million
> in damages -- the costliest act of eco-terrorism in the United States.
> The
> group also said it was involved in fires at the U.S. Agriculture
> Department buildings in Washington and at an Oregon corral used for wild
> horses and burros and has released minks from farms in Wisconsin and the
> Upper Peninsula. Most recently, ELF said it burned down a timber industry
> headquarters in Oregon on Dec. 25.
>
> Lana Pollack, president of the Michigan Environmental Council, denounced
> such acts in the name of environmentalism.
>
> "We can't have a civil society by acting outside the law," Pollack
> said. "I have zero sympathy for them."
>
> LAURA POTTS can be reached at 313-222-6609. Staff writer Dawson Bell
> contributed to this report.